Search Results for: church

I’ve never been much of a people person. I have always described myself as a loner girl, an introvert, socially awkward, the quiet type, the person that turns the complete opposite way when I see someone walking toward me to avoid any human interaction at all costs. I used those examples to describe myself for…

My mind wandered. We sat stuck, horns blaring around us as traffic ground to halt. I wiped sweat from my brow and the diesel fumes were beginning to make my eyes burn. This was not the first time I had experienced this since it was my 16th trip visiting my friends and churches in East Africa….

Nobody likes criticism, not even pastors. Having been a pastor for more than three decades I have come to a few conclusions regarding how to give helpful and effective criticism. Many church members are not very good at providing their pastor with constructive feedback, and most pastors are not very good at receiving criticism from…

Trying to reach and disciple your own immediate family can be one of the hardest things. The number of relational obstacles, woundedness, and confusion caused by unintentional hurt and sin can drive a deep divide in familial relationships. When we find ourselves in these situations, it is paramount that we do not move into judgment…

Being a leader and spending a lot of time with leaders is a large percentage of what I do. Literally every day of my life I give some time and thought to being the “right” kind of leader and helping select or develop other leaders. All of my thinking and engaging with leaders has led…

Not long ago I was in the Apple store working on my iPhone. A young lady was helping me—she probably looked to be in her early twenties. While she was working on my phone I started talking to her about her job. I asked, “Have you been working here long?” “No, not really. Just a…

Multiplication is a big deal to Jesus. Jesus took the men He had built and trained for over three years, and He released them to multiply. This was the whole point of His investment. They were now the Spirit empowered leaders of the movement. In the book of Acts, we see that the early church…

Over the past few weeks, I have been struggling with a question to myself, “What is my legacy?” I am a Christian, a disciple maker and try to live my life in that fashion every day. I grew up in the church of my Baptist minister father but struggled with my faith as a young…

Culture has a magnetic power to transform us. It will build into us how we speak, the values we live by, the stories we tell, and what we do. David Brooks echoes this in his book, The Second Mountain: “Never underestimate the power of the environment you work in to gradually change who you are.” If we…